The Bank of the Future: The Children’s Development Khazana, a banking system in India run by kids

August 2, 2012

Ram Singh, 17, earns just one dollar from the 100 cups of tea he makes every day outside Delhi railway station, but each evening, after packing up, he goes to the bank and deposits nearly half of it.

Singh holds an account at a special bank, run for — and mostly by — Indian street children, that keeps what little money they have safe and seeks to instill the idea that savings, however meager, are important.

Just one among millions of street children who rely on menial jobs for survival, Singh is determined to make his work pay some sort of future dividend.